Would-Be Terrorist Tries to Blow Up Federal Reserve

A jihadi from Bangladesh was arrested this morning after he tried to blow up the Federal Reserve building in lower Manhattan:

A terrorist tried to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan with a 1,000-pound bomb this morning, authorities said.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, parked a van filled with what he thought were real explosives outside of the Liberty Street building, sources said, then tried to set them off using a cell phone detonator.

Nafis obtained 20 50-pound bags of explosives from an undercover FBI agent that he met on the Internet, authorities said.

In a statement meant to take responsibility for the attack, Nafis said he wanted to “destroy America,” by targeting its economy.

He quoted “our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden,” to justify the fact that he expected to killed women and children, the Department of Justice said.

This was the now-familiar scenario where the would-be terrorist tries to recruit help for his terrorist project and quickly finds himself talking to an FBI agent. So here, once again, law enforcement authorities were way ahead of the jihadi, and the public was never in danger. Still, one wonders whether it is only a matter of time before a terrorist, or small group of terrorists, comes up with a truck full of fertilizer and a real detonator.